Summary: "Peace of mind makes the body healthy." Proverbs 14:30 (TEV) "A relaxed attitude lengthens a man's life." Proverbs 14:30 (TLB) Before we look at the text let me just identify the seven most common sources of stress in modern life. These are the seven things that cause stress most often in today's lifestyle. 1. Worry. The reason why worry is number one is because there's a lot more things to worry about than there used to be. Nobody worried about identity theft twenty years ago. Nobody worried about losing their cell phone twenty years ago. There are a lot of things we worry about today that your parents didn't have to worry about because they are new worries in an increasingly complex world. 2. Hurry. Hurry comes from the increasing pace in our life. Would you agree that it seems like the world is going faster and faster? We live in a microwave nanosecond world where everybody wants it now and they want it yesterday and they want it immediately. And everything is going faster and faster. That creates stress. Speed creates stress. 3. Crowds. As the world gets more crowded people are getting more stressed out. The reason why is we have a thing called urbanization. That is people are moving to the cities. Life used to be rural but now it is definitely urban. Eighty three percent of America lives in a large city. 4. Multiple choice. Or more choices than ever before. Actually the more choices you have in life, you think that's more freeing, more liberating. But actually it's more paralyzing because it creates indecision. 5. Loss of privacy. Actually any loss is stressful but in the modern world the loss of privacy there are not just the government but all kinds of corporations keeping their number on you. They want to know where you are and who you are and what you said and what you bought. Every time you buy something now somebody rings it up and they're keeping a record of how many Pampers you bought and when you need to move to Depends. You move from hot wheels to wheel chair. 6. Pluralism. What is pluralism? We now live in a world where the people around you often have very different beliefs, convictions, lifestyles, cultures and things like that. 7. The fear of the future. The what ifs. The fear of the future. 7 SPIRITUAL HABITS THAT REDUCE STRESS (PSALM 23) 1. Look to God to Meet All My Needs This single change in your life – you stop looking to other people to meet your needs – if you'd stop looking to your husband, to your wife, to meet your needs, your stress would go down dramatically. Stop putting your security in things that you can lose. The Bible says this in "Since God did not spare even his own Son for us but gave him up for us, won't he also surely give us everything else we need?" Romans 8:32 (LB) "The Lord is my shepherd, so I have all I need." Psalm 23:1 Isaiah 30:15 says this, "The sovereign Lord says only in returning to me and waiting for me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength.'" 2. I NEED TO OBEY GOD'S INSTRUCTION ABOUT REST. So much of the stress in your life comes from always being in a hurry. Always working too much. Always feeling like you've got too much to do. That's why you overwork. You never can get caught up. God says I want you to rest. Psalm 23:2 "He makes me lie down." Circle the phrase "makes me". He says God makes me lie down. Does God ever have to make you lay down? Because you weren't smart enough to obey what he says about rest and take a day off every week. Sheep aren't smart enough to rest when they get tired so the shepherd has to make them lay down. Getting enough sleep is essential to stress management. My best requires rest. You're not wasting time when you're relaxing. You're not wasting time when you're resting. Three Things to Happen on Your Sabbath: 1. Rest my body. You need to rest your body. Physically rest. The Biblical basis for a good Sunday afternoon nap. Just not while I'm speaking. 2. Refocus my spirit. I rest my body on the Sabbath and I refocus my spirit. What is that? That's worship. It's what you're doing right now. You are refocusing your spirit right now by coming to worship. In corporate worship we recharge and refresh our spirit. 3. Recharge my emotions. Use the Sabbath to recharge your emotions. That's what recreation does. It recharges your emotions. Different things recharge different people. About how you need beauty in your life. You need to do something that restores you and reenergizes. It could be a hobby. It could be a sport. These are good things that God has given us as gifts in order to recharge your emotions. It doesn't really matter which day is your Sabbath. The book of Colossians in the Bible says it doesn't matter which day you choose. You just need to choose a day. 3. RECHARGE MY SOUL WITH BEAUTY That's the third thing we need to do: Recharge my soul with beauty. Beauty is an incredibly important thing in stress management. Ugliness stresses you out. Beauty inspires. Beauty encourages. Beauty motivates. Beauty stirs up positive emotions. "He makes me lie down in lush green meadows and leads me beside calm, quiet waters. He restores my soul." Psalm 23:2-3a Some Suggestions: 1. Get outside every day. If you're not getting outside every day your stress level is going up. Even if it's just your back yard, even if it's just a walk around the block 2. Start the day with God not the media. Before you go read any text message, before you check your email, before you turn on the radio to some talk radio and people screaming at each other, before you turn on the television for some morning show, you need to get in touch with God first. 3. Intentionally put beauty around you. Pieces of art or music that inspires you. Or a craft. Looking at beauty lowers your stress level. Listening to beauty lowers your stress level. "You'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly." Philippians 4:8 (Mes) 4. GO TO GOD FOR GUIDANCE. "He guides me in the right paths for his name's sake." Psalm 23:3 This is important because a common source of stress in your life is indecision. You can't make up your mind. Some of you right now are wavering. You're at a fork in the road or maybe you've got multiple options and you just can't decide and the stress is killing you. You can't decide whether to get in or get out or do neither. You've got too many choices. Psalm 23:3 says this "He guides me in the right paths for his name's sake." That's an affirmation: God I believe you're going to guide me at the right time in the right way. I believe you're going to do that. If you have that belief he's going to do it. 5. TRUST GOD IN THE DARK VALLEYS "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff comfort me." Psalm 23:4 I trust God in the dark valleys. We're all going to go through dark valleys in our lives. You'll go through many of them in your lifetime. One of the common sources of stress is loss. You can lose your job and you can lose your income and you can lose your money. You can lose your health. You can lose your reputation. You can lose a loved one. We all go through many losses in life. Psalm 23:4. Here's what David says, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, [I don't fear anything. Why? ] for you are with me; Your rod and your staff comfort me." 6. LET GOD BE MY DEFENDER "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, and you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows." Psalm 23:5 How do you handle rude people? How do you handle mean people? You don't. You let God handle them. You let God be your defender. 7. EXPECT GOD TO FINISH WHAT HE STARTS IN ME "Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." Psalm 23:6 I expect God to finish what he starts in me. Are you a person who is afraid of the future? Are you a what if-er? You're always what if-ing. What if this happens? What if this went wrong? What if that went bad? What if? What if? What if? If you're a what if-er it leads to enormous amount of stress in your life. Unnecessary stress.
